Prep hockey: Shorthanded Hawks win in OT

WASILLA — Casey Marre’s backhanded finish of a Micah Ranum pass ended a grueling 3-2 overtime win for the Houston Hawks over Bartlett Friday at the Curtis C. Menard II Ice Arena in Wasilla.

“It was tough,” Marre, a senior forward, said following the game.

Houston began the game with just 10 healthy skaters. So when starting defenseman Brendan Weimer left with an injury to his left ankle and did not return, the Hawks were forced to play with just four skaters — and a backup goalie — on the bench at any given time.

But the Hawks never quit against the Golden Bears, which despite having a much deeper bench were unable to capitalize on Houston’s depth problems. And when the Golden Bears were called for hooking midway through the overtime, it gave the Hawks just the opening they needed, converting on the power play for the first time in the game.

“Everybody stepped up,” Hawks coach Mike Styers said following the game.

Styers said he tried to put his top skaters on the ice for the final three minutes of regulation in order to try to force the action.

“I’m telling you, we don’t want overtime,” he said.

Ranum, a freshman forward, assisted on all three Houston goals and sophomore goalie Will Rauchenstein made 22 saves, including all 17 shots over the final two periods and overtime.

The teams traded two early goals, with Bartlett getting first blood with a score by forward Ryan McDonald, who snuck a wraparound shot past Rauchenstein from behind the Hawks’ net.

Houston senior captain Dillon Styers picked up the equalizer with a fantastic individual effort, taking the pass from Ranum at the blue line, splitting a pair of Bartlett defenders and burying a wrist shot past Devin Rawls to make it 1-1 after less than five minutes of play.

Bartlett’s John Weber gave the Bears a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission when he ripped a high shot over Rauchenstein’s right shoulder shortly before the end of the opening period.

Ranum also set up the Hawks’ second goal of the game, hitting a wide-open Tim Scates in front of the Bartlett goal. Scates calmly whipped the puck past Rawls to tie the game shortly before the second intermission.

While Scates’ cool-handed finish may have looked routine, the tally was just the sophomore forward’s first goal of the season.

“And it’s his second year ever skating, so he was really pleased,” Mike Styers said.

Each team was scoreless in the third period, with Rauchenstein making the biggest play of the period, stuffing McDonald’s breakaway try with 1:30 left in regulation.

“It could have been the game right there,” Styers said. “He played well.”

Casey Marre said the overtime win was a big confidence-builder for the Hawks, which have struggled to find wins during the school’s first season at Alaska’s Class 4A level. He said beating Bartlett — whose enrollment of approximately 2,000 is more than four times larger than Houston’s — meant a lot to the Hawks.

“This is a big win,” Marre said. “We don’t beat Anchorage schools very often, so it’s a big deal.”

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com

HAWKS 3, GOLDEN BEARS 2 (OT)

Friday, Menard Memorial Arena

Houston 1 -1-0—1 — 3

Bartlett 1- 2- 0- 0 — 2

First period – 1. Bartlett- McDonald (un), 3:19; 2. Houston- Styers (Ranum, Hundley), 5:27; 3. Bartlett- Weber (un), 13:28.

Second period – 4. Houston- Scates (Ranum, Styers), 13:25

Third period – none.

Overtime - 5. Houston- Marre (Ranum), pp, 3:25

Shots: Houston 9-11-9-3 – 32, Bartlett 7-9-7-1 – 24.

Penalties: Houston 3 for 6:00, Bartlett 3 for 6:00.

Goalies: Houston- Rauchenstein 5-9-7-1 — 22, Bartlett- Rawls 8-10-9-2 — 29.